The Mistress of Fear
by JTR01
Summary: Decades into the future, Two-Face's granddaughter Samantha Dent has her life change forever when her father is kidnapped by Gotham's local gang. Stealing from a friend of her grandfather's named Jonathan Crane, she plans to use his fear toxin and identity of Scarecrow to save her father.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Batman or any of the characters related to the character. This is just a fan made story created for the enjoyment of fans.**

Samantha Dent walked out the school gates of Gotham High, ignoring the happy chatter of those excited for winter break and the whispers of those who looked at her. The sixteen year old passed a small group of teenagers boys laughing at something in their glasses, probably a YouTube video.

"Hey Dent!" a voice yelled out, belonging to none other than the queen of the school Vera Vale. Samantha knew from past experience that, despite how much she wanted to, it was not a good idea to just ignore her and walk away.

"What do you want Vera?" she asked, gripping her school bag tightly unconsciously as Vera approached Samantha along with her two followers Bethany and Jasmine.

"Just wanted to check up on our resident psychopath. Heard any voices lately? Started to collect those coin things? What about a powerful desire to burn half your face? Because trust me, you couldn't look any more ugly." Vera laughed, while the two sheep with her copies her terrible insult.

The insult was terrible because it was untrue. Granted Samantha didn't do as much as Vera or her followers to seem pretty or attractive, with all of them at least wearing some form of makeup at all times, she was by no means ugly. Her dark brown bed hair, dull grey eyes and slightly pale complexion may contrast Vera's perfectly brushed blond hair, bright blue eyes and fake tanned skin, but Samantha has seen a few boys look at her when they thought she wasn't and some trying to work up the courage to talk to her. But, like how things were when she tried to make friends, the actions of her grandfather made it impossible to start any kind of relationship with anyone.

"Very creative Vera." Samantha said, having heard this insult before. "You could have been Harley Quinn."

"Who?" she asked in response.

"How can you not know this, we just had a lesson about her and the Joker half and hour ago?" Samantha questioned, though immediately regretting it.

"Well, unlike you, I'm not interested in knowing about costumed freaks who haven't bothered the police with stupid gimmicks in nearly twenty years." Vera snapped, before grinning maliciously. "Of course, as we know you like hearing about that stuff. After all you probably keep a bunch of photos of all the people your grandfather killed in your room. I bet you imagine yourself killing them. Don't you?"

"Is something going on here?" a voice suddenly said, which caused Samantha to unclench the first she had been making. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice to find it belonged to an elderly man. He was hunched over slightly and leaned on his wooden cane. He wore black simple clothing that were buttoned up tight, and his face was that of a kind grandfather who would secretly give his grandkids sweets when the parents weren't looking. But as he drew closer, you were clearly able to see that his eyes did not match his face or polite smile.

"Hello Samantha. I hope you are well." the man said to her, before focusing on Vera and her friends. "How do you do young ladies. My name is Jonathan Crane, a friend of Samantha's father."

"How do you do sir?" Vera said politely, giving him the same smile that made everyone think she was a perfect angel. Samantha could barely stop herself from laughing as she saw the uncertainty on Vera's face slowly appear as Crane stared at her with his cold and lifeless eyes. Eventually, even she couldn't take it. "Well, it was good meeting you."

Slowly, much to the confusion to Bethany and Jasmine, Vera walked away from Crane and Samantha. Samantha suppressed a chuckle, while Crane was showing a rare smile to the world. However, everything became serious when he focused his attention to Samantha.

"So why are you here?" she asked.

"Bill asked me to make sure you got home safely, considering what's been going on with the Ivies lately." Crane explained, referring of course to Gotham's biggest gang/cult, inspired by some plant woman from the days were it was normal for grown adults to dress up all the time like it was Halloween. While they should be easy to find, with all the cameras and surveillance, this was Gotham. Everyone knew that the cameras were just to show and only half were really cameras. Nothing helped the police stop crime.

"I'm fine. And shouldn't I be safe?" Samantha asked as the two began to walk away from the school. "I mean, don't they focus on men or women who promote gender stereotypes?"

"Maybe they did, but not anymore. I swear if Pamela could see what people have done with her legacy, she would rather marry that stupid clown than join that cult." Crane replied. "Though she would be happy to find out that she did in some way contribute to people taking batter care of the environment than ever before. Anyway, how have you been?"

"I've been alright. School is great as usual." Samantha told him, despite there being no point to lie as he had just clearly seen what school was like for her.

"You know, I was bullied as well as a kid. You could talk to me about it if you want?"

"Do you really think I should talk about bullies to a guy who invented a fear toxin and became a supervillain because of his own bullied childhood?"

All her life, Crane and her father have never made the former's past a secret. That the old man walking beside her had once been someone that the media called the master of fear. Scarecrow. That he spent a lot of time in a lunatic asylum and terrorized Gotham alongside her grandfather Harvey Dent, called Two-Face, alongside many others. Despite this, Samantha has never treated him in any way other than a family member, despite there being no blood relation.

"Ok, first of all I never invented the toxin. My uncle did, and I only made it better as Scarecrow. Second of all, besides your father I'm the probably the best person you could speak to." he told the sixteen year old. "Plus, I kind of need to know how to help you. I did promise Harvey I would look after his family."

"Yeah well, I don't need you to fight my battles like I'm some damsel."

"I know you don't. Even without those self defense classes you took, you could easily tear that girl apart. I would say she could only survive a minute in a fight with you tops."

"I'm thankful for the vote of confidence, but it doesn't work like that. I'm Samantha Dent and she's Vera Vale."

"Huh, did anyone leave this city after all the craziness was over?" Crane wondered, before seeing the confusion on Samantha's face. "I knew a Vale once. Well, sort of knew. She interviewed me one time before deciding she would rather talk to Nigma of all people. She quickly changed her mind however when she realized she preferred a lunatic who babbled about fear to an arrogant egomaniac with a inferiority complex."

"I think most people would." she said as they turned a corner, barely acknowledging the police cars driving above them. While Crane probably would be amazed by such things, as he has been known to mention how fast technology has advanced, they were commonplace for Samantha though it was still normal for people to drive road cars. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you miss it? Being Scarecrow I mean?" she asked him. Crane became silent, and a strange look appeared in his eyes. For a moment Samantha wondered if she had insulted him, before he looked at her and began to speak.

"Sometimes. I mean, it's a lot easier to make people fear me than it is to try and tolerate them." he told her, before shaking his head and giving her a smile. "But that's part of my past now, and something that's not important to me anymore. Now come on, let's get you home."

Jonathan nodded and the two focused on getting back to Samantha's apartment, rarely talking. It took them about twenty minutes, but eventually they arrived at the street that Samantha lives in. So they were surprised to see several police cars parked outside.

"What's going on?" Samantha asked Crane, despite knowing that there wasn't anyway he could know what's going on.

"I don't know. Maybe they're finally going to arrest me." Crane joked. He made jokes like that a lot. The two of them entered the building and walked up the stairs to the second floor, at which point Samantha was horrified to see her apartment door open and police entering and leaving through it.

"What's going on? Where's my dad?" she asked the nearest police officer.

"Are you Samantha Dent?" she asked, and Samantha nodded. "Look I don't want to worry you, but some neighbors heard loud noises and when we got here your dad was already...gone."

"Gone! What do you mean gone?" Samantha asked, but before the cop could say anything she dashed into the apartment, slipping past the other police officers in the hallway. She looked around the living room once she got there, horrified by what she saw. Overthrown furniture, damaged walls, a broken television. But the most horrific thing was the spray painted leaf on the wall. The calling card of one specific gang of Gotham that meant only one thing.

The Ivies had kidnapped her father. And, like so many before him, were likely going to kill him.

 **I know, nothing worth a mature rating yet, but I will try to include something in the next chapter. Tell me what you think and if there are any spelling mistakes or sentences that don't make sense.**


	2. Chapter 2

Samantha stared at the picture in her hand, her face expressionless. There were three individuals in the picture, all of them smiling. One was clearly Crane, probably in his mid thirties. The other man she recognised from photos she had been shown before. He was her grandfather Harvey Dent, though half of his face was covered in bandages. And between the two of them was a boy around her age, maybe a bit younger. He was easy to identify as well.

"That was taken when your dad was fifteen. Harvey was at a point he was better than ever before." Crane said as he appeared suddenly carrying two cups of tea, watching her sadly as she put the picture back down on the desk next to the others. "I brought tea. Tetch may have been crazy, but he was right that tea is better than coffee."

Samantha didn't respond as she took the cup being offered to her, and she didn't drink it. It had been two hours since she found out her father had been kidnapped, and after much questioning and letting her get some clothes she had reluctantly allowed Crane to take her to his house. There weren't many houses left in Gotham, and Samantha was pretty sure it wouldn't be too crazy to assume he had the last one. However, while it wasn't huge it did allow Crane more room than he actually needed. There was his bedroom and a guest bedroom, along with a large living room and kitchen. This house is something meant for a family, not one person.

"The police called. They said they are investigating a few leads, and hopefully they'll find Bill-" Crane said to her before Samantha interrupted him.

"Don't. Just...don't."

"Don't what?" Crane asked in confusion.

"Act like the police are even going to try. I've lived in Gotham my whole life Jonathan, I know how things work." Samantha told him, struggling to control her anger. "Some of the police will probably try, but everyone knows that as long as the Ivies are around the more money the police get from the government to try and stop them. So they won't. That means I need you to do something."

"What do you mean?" Crane asked in confusion. "What can I do?"

"Something!" she yelled, placing her cup on a coaster firmly, making a loud bang. "You're Scarecrow, you must have something that can help us find my dad!"

"I was Scarecrow, emphasis on the past tense." Crane told her firmly as he put his cup of tea down. "And what would I do if I still was Scarecrow? Break out the toxin, wear the mask again and call myself the master of fear? I'll just get myself killed."

"And you wouldn't have back when you did call yourself that? Jesus Christ, you actually have a weapon you can use. You weren't some moron dressed as a clown, or a wananbe leprechaun who told riddles. You were Scarecrow, you made people experience their worst fears." she told him, getting angrier at his refusal to do something.

"I would have been less likely to have been killed by cops that's for sure. Samantha, you have to understand that what happened back then could never happen to Gotham again." Crane tried to explain. "If a guy gets half his faced burned now, we have the technology to repair a lot of the damage within twenty minutes no problem. A clown tries to take over Gotham, he would be killed instantly. And a nerd uses a toxin to scare people, he would be beaten up and forced to make it for a gang. And most importantly of all, people can't dress up in ridiculous costumes and fight crime. Those days are over because since Batman died, Gotham realised what life was like without all of that insanity and decided they would prefer normal crimes and gangs to it."

"Well I can't stay here and do nothing!" Samantha yelled.

"Well you have to. I'm sorry about Bill, I really am." Crane told her. "But I told him he should leave Gotham with me. You know I've been telling him for years, but he wouldn't go and I had to stay here to look after the two of you."

"Well you've done a great job at that haven't you." Samantha told him. Immediately she regretted what she said the second she said them, and it was painful when she saw the look of hurt on Crane's face. But she was still too upset to apologise, so she ran from the living room and up the stairs to the guest bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

* * *

"God damn it, this stuff is heavy." Samantha said with pant, as she gripped the rucksack full of Crane's stuff. She had changed out of her school uniform into a blue jumper, trousers and black boots.

It had been surprisingly easy to take Crane's fear toxin and equipment. She had been round his house all he life, but both Crane and her dad had been strict about where she was allowed to go in the house, so that meant two things: Crane hadn't let go of everything from his life as Scarecrow, and the room in the basement was the most likely place for him to keep the toxin. She had been expecting some sort of security, probably a spray of the toxin to turn her into a screaming madwoman. But instead it was just a simple padlock. She supposed that Crane thought that no one would realise the significance of the toxin or would take it and use it on themselves, which would end badly.

Samantha found it a little difficult to believe that this stuff could actually make people experience their worst fears. I mean, yes she's heard the stories and due to the importance of the costumed villains in Gotham's history Crane does get mentioned a bit, but still it sounded a little too good to be true. Still she checked over Crane's notes and grabbed both the liquid and spray versions of the toxin, though she suspects she will primarily use the latter.

The teen knew what she was doing was incredibly stupid. People don't go after the Ivies. A known fact of Gotham is that anyone who has ever gone against the gangs that ruled the city, especially that gang. Regardless of whatever she used in hopes of protecting herself, she was just going to get herself killed. But despite her common sense telling her to go back to Crane's house, she couldn't. A more angry part of her wanted revenge and seeing as she had to tools to take that revenge, she wasn't going to stop. Maybe the kids who had bullied Samantha her whole life had been right all along. Maybe she was crazy like her grandfather.

She was currently in the more rough and run down area of Gotham known as the Narrows, which is also where the Ivies are believed to be based. She had been looking for about twenty minutes, but for the supposedly most crime ridden part of Gotham she hasn't found any of the Ivies. She wasn't going to give up, but she was going to consider trying to look at some of the gang hideouts she had seen on the news when she heard it.

"GET AWAY FROM US!"

The voice was female, but Samantha could also hear two more voices. She was pretty sure they were young voices, voices belonging to children. For a second Samantha just stood there, instincts refined form living in Gotham telling her to just walk away. It wasn't her problem. That was the motto that every Gotham citizen lived by. But as she heard the brief sound of innocent people whimpering in fear, Samantha did the most stupid thing a Gotham citizen could do. She went to try and help.

She dashed down an alleyway where she had heard the scream, and made a turn to the left when she heard another scream. She quickly saw what was going on, and froze again as she realized she didn't know what to do. Down the alleyway was an Ivy, wearing green plant tattoos on her right arm. Ivies typically tattooed their arms and when with the gang left their arms exposed, acting proud that they have it. She also wore black body armour that covered her body except for her face and tattooed arm. She had a shotgun in her hands and was aiming it at a woman and two kids, one a boy and the other a girl.

Reluctantly realizing she should do something and accepting the act she had weapons of a sort, she put the bag down and opened it up. Inside where many cans of fear gas which were let out when released and vials. There was also a gauntlet like object, which had long needles for the liquid to be pushed into a body and a small part where the cans could go so she can release them through the gauntlet. She had also grabbed part of Crane's old uniform, particularly his mask. It was basically just a gas mask which had cloth put over it and styled to look like it was part of a Halloween costume.

"Please, just leave us alone!" the woman begged while the kids, who Samantha belonged to her, hugged her tightly and tried not to look at the Ivy.

"No. You should be grateful sister." the Ivy said with glee. "You and your daughter have been liberated. All that's left is to take care of this future abuser of women."

"You stay away from my son!" the woman screamed, placing herself in front of her children.

"Oh don't worry, we won't kill him. We'll just domesticate him so he'll listen to us." the Ivy said as she approached them and aimed the shotgun at the woman. 2So I'll get out of my way before you end up like your previous owner."

Samantha became confused by what the Ivy said, but then she saw something past the four people she had just seen. While it was a little hard to see clearly due to the Ivy being in the way, there was no mistaken what it was. A dead body, with part of its head completely blown off. Samantha stumbled back, shocked and disgusted by it. However this led her to end up colliding with a few bins, which fell to the ground with a loud series of bangs.

"What was that?" the Ivy asked, as she pulled out a pistol from her hip holster while keeping the shotgun level with the family. "Who's there?"

Samantha panicked, but instead of running like she should have, she reached into the bag for a can and the mask, which she slipped onto her head. It was stuffy in the gas mask and smelled weird, but with the can in her hand Samantha prepared herself for anything. Sadly she didn't expect for someone to kick her in the back and send her tumbling out of her hiding spot, losing her grip on the cannister.

"Look what I found." a new Ivy said as she picked Samantha up and dragged her to the first Ivy and the victims. She threw Samantha to the ground, though the mask stayed on, and the second Ivy aimed a pistol at Samantha. The second Ivy had picked up Samantha's bag and was showing it to the first one as well.

"What are you wearing? It's a little early for Halloween isn't it?" the first Ivy asked while staring at the contents. "And what is all this stuff? Drugs?"

"Hey, I know what this stuff is!" the second one said loudly. "This is that toxin drug that's been going around right?"

"The what?" the first one asked her partner.

"It's based on this thing called venom. Some steroid freak used to have them in the olden days."

"What are you doing with something like that? Are you a dealer or something?" the first Ivy asked Samantha, who's face of terror was thankfully hidden by the mask.

"Hey I've got to try some of this shit." the second Ivy said her partner, and before anyone could do anything, she had taken out a vial and injected it into her exposed arm after putting the bag on the ground.

It took roughly ten seconds for the toxin to take effect. When it did, the result was stunning. The second Ivy was speaking to the first one, about to remove Samantha's mask, when her hand stopped in front of Samantha. Then the second Ivy jumped back as if she had been hit by a car, her eyes widening and her mouth moving but no sound coming out. A second after this, she began to scream loudly and before the first Ivy could do anything except lower her weapons, the second Ivy ran off screaming loudly. Samantha didn't know what caused her to do what she did next, but she reached into the bag and pulled out a can. She then reached up and sprayed the contents of the can into the face of the remaining Ivy, who began choking furiously.

"Run!" Samantha told the family, her voice sounding deep and menacing, but despite that the family reluctantly left. The Ivy struggled around for a bit, and Samantha could see that she was about to run away so she did the only thing she could think of. She got up and ran into the Ivy, making both fall to the ground.

"OH FUCK, LEAVE ME ALONE!" the woman screamed as she pushed Samantha away, and crawled to the nearby wall, sitting beside a pile of bins in fear.

"Jesus this stuff works well." Samantha muttered as she got up to her feet, surprised by what had happened. But she tried to focus, picking up the bag, and began to walk up to the Ivy. "Where is your base or hideout or whatever you call it?"

"GO AWAY! GO AWAY!" the Ivy screamed in terror, crying and curling up into a ball.

"Tell me!" Samantha ordered, trying to sound scary. To her it sounded weak and unthreatening, but apparently it terrified the Ivy as she only began to scream louder. Bute eventually, she began to tell Samantha what she wanted to hear.

"Ok, I'll talk! We're at an abandoned building near the old asylum. It's the only one that looks worse than the others. Please let me go!" the Ivy begged. Saamntha didn't respond, except jumping forward a little to make the Ivy scream loudweer for he rown enjoyment. She was beginning to understand why Crane had used this stuff, and was wondering how she could subtly expose era to it when she felt something squishy on her foot when she took a step back.

Looking down, she saw that it was small bits that had belonged to the man murdered by the Ivy crying in fear right now. Her foot was just a few centimeters from the dead man's head, and blood was clearly seeping out from the blown off apart of the mans head. Samantha couldn't tear her gaze away from the body. All she could do was stare at the head, see the small flecks of what looked like fragments of the skull littered around it. See the raw pink like flesh and the only remaining eye in the skull. It was at that moment that Samantha truly realised what was happening.

She ran. She ran as fast as she could, clutching the bag to her chest. She didn't know how long or how far she ran, but she went down alleyways and pass buildings until she couldn't run anymore. Eventually, she found herself sitting against a wall in a alleyway, the bag still in her hand. She felt sick, and quickly pulled off the mask to throw up. She couldn't stop her body from shaking and once she stopped throwing up, she tried to take deep breaths in a futile attempt to calm herself. She couldn't believe what she had just saw. A dead body. The very thought made her want to throw up again. Suddenly she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and Samantha quickly pulled it out and answered it.

"Samantha? Where are you?" asked a very worried Crane.

"I'm...I'm looking for the Ivies." Samantha responded hesitantly, struggling to stay focused. She suddenly felt very light and confused, as if what had just happened had happened to someone else.

"Samantha, where is my Scarecrow stuff?" Crane asked. "Please don't tell me you have it."

"I needed to use it." she replied simply, staring at the mask in her hand. The dark slits in the mask that functioned as eye holes stared back.

"Please tell me where you are. Or just come home, I don't care. I just want you safe." Crane begged.

"But I can save my dad."

"No you can't! Samantha listen to me please. You're not like me. You're not like Harvey, or anyone else you might have heard of. You are not meant for this life, so you can't survive against them." Crane told her desperately. "You're a sane person. You can't be Scarecrow."

"I'll call you back soon." Samantha told him, and ignoring his begs she turned her phone off before putting it back into her pocket.

She knew she should go back to Jonathan's house. She would be safe there. She could try to forget what she had just seen. But all she could think about is that the Ivies could have done something like that to her father. Or something even worse. But she also thought that maybe, just maybe, he was still alive. That there was time to save him. So she put the mask back on, she gripped the strap of the bag tightly, and she headed towards the asylum.

 **Remember to tell me what you think. I'm open to all sorts of criticism, good or bad. I specifically want to know if I made how Samantha reacted seem real enough, because I mainly want to show how different she is from Crane and thus would not react the same way as you would expect him to act.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Final chapter. I hope that anyone who has been reading this has enjoyed it.**

"Oh come on, why can't I find this place?" Samantha muttered angrily, taking the mask off due to how hot it was and putting it in the bag.

The teenager looked around the buildings, trying to identify the one the Ivy had described. Samantha was beginning to realise that it would have been smarter to scare the Ivy into giving her more information. All the buildings looked run down and terrible, and it would take a pretty large focus group to decide which one was the worse. Each building had graffiti, had broken windows or doors, and had at least one chalk outline of a body next to them. Thinking about the outlines nearly made Samantha think about the body of the dead man she had seen, but she shook her head and told herself that she needed to focus. Suddenly she heard people coming her way so Samantha quickly hid behind a dumpster while making sure she had plenty of room to see what was happening.

"Come on, we have to move before the cops catch us!" an Ivy with bright green hair said to another as they ran down the street.

"Don't be a bojo. They won't catch us. None of them come this far since they know this is where we live." the second Ivy said. At hearing that, Samantha began to carefully leave her hiding space and follow the two Ivies.

"Do you know why they called this congregation?" the first one asked.

"I don't know. Something about Rachel being attacked by someone able to control rats a few blocks from here, and leaving Betty behind." the seen Ivy responded, and it took Samantha a few seconds before she realised what the Ivy was mentioning was Samantha's encounter with the two Ivies. So that Ivy who ran away must have seen rats.

"What, like those meta people? You know, that's what happens when a conspiracy theorist joins. Everyone knows metas are just a urban myth." the first Ivy said with a laugh.

The two Ivies only walked a little bit more. Samantha watched the two go down the alleyway next to a building near a few feet from the gates to the old asylum. She followed, noticing all the unfinished construction and patches of grass. She remembered when it was announced a few years ago that the old Arkham asylum will be demolished and the surrounding area would be remade into new homes. But like most things in Gotham, it had just been for show and everyone knows that it's now just another useless part of Gotham's corruption.

Samantha followed the Ivies and looked down the alleyway to see the Ivies go up to a door of a large building. She watched one of them open the door with a key and go in, closing it behind them. Samantha began to look at the building, hoping to see some other kind of entrance into the building. However, she was angry when she couldn't see any windows on the side of the building, and was about to go looking more when she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around in surprise, and was shocked when she saw that the person was wearing a silver mask with one eye glowing red, while wearing a red and grey armour like suit. Two rifles were on her back and strange wrist like devices that seemed to be gun barrels. Instantly afraid, regardless if this person as an Ivy or not, Samantha began to scream but the masked individual put a hand to Samantha's mouth.

"Shut up. Crane sent me." the masked individual said with a feminine voice, as she slowly removed her hand. "Don't be scared, it's just a mask."

"How did you find me?" Samantha asked as she gripped her bag tightly by the strap. "And what kind of mask is that?"

"I'm one of the best assassins in the world. And while I am a bit old now, if I couldn't find one stupid suicidal girl in Gotham, I should just retire right now." the woman told Samantha. "Anyway, you can call me Deadshot."

"An assassin? Johnathan sent an assassin to find me, and not to save my dad?" Samantha asked, hurt by this knowledgethat Crane always had a way to help.

"He didn't send me because he knew I wouldn't save someone from the Ivies even if I owed him. I would stop someone from getting involved with the Ivies, but I wouldn't tick them off. They are spread worldwide so it would be bad for business, plus many of their more powerful members are in Gotham." Deadshot explained, before grabbing Samantha by the arm. "Now come on. I intend to repay my debt to Crane tonight and your little suicide mission won't stop me."

"No I need to save my dad." Samantha told her as she pulled her arm out of Deadshot's grip. "He's in there and I can save him."

"Jesus, you're worse than Rose." Deadshot replied. "Look, I admire what you're trying to do, but you are not meant for this life. You are meant to come with me and live a life as normal as possible with Crane, preferably one two states away from Gotham."

"I don't care. I'm going to find my dad." Samantha replied firmly and tried to walk away, Deadshot reaching towards her to grab her. However both of them stopped moving when someone else spoke.

"Hold it right there!" said someone from behind them, and Samantha and Deadshot turned to see two Ivies pointing guns at them.

"Oh perfect. Just perfect." Deadshot grumbled, before she slowly took steps towards the Ivies. "Look, there doesn't have to be any violence. Just let us go and there won't be any trouble."

"Yeah, but we don't trust you. After all we did use hear that girl say she was going top try and save her father." one Ivy said as she continued to aim her gun.

"And also, we just want to hurt you both." the second Ivy said with a mad grin, before staring at Deadshot in confusion. "And what are you wearing? I mean I'm no fashion expert, but yikes."

"Come on, get moving." the first Ivy ordered as she walked towards Samantha and Deadshot with her gun aimed at the assassin. Samantha could feel her heart beastign quickly as fear began to make her body shake and she wondered what was going to happen. She quickly got her answer however when Deadshot quickly grabbed the Ivy's gun and in seconds, the Ivy had been thrown to the ground with a clearly broken hand while Deadshot approached the other Ivy. As Samantha stared at the fallen Ivy, she saw what she wanted to see. Around her neck was a small key held together by a small black rope that might open the door to the building.

She barely heard Deadshot yell at her to stop as she snatched the key and pulled it off the Ivy's head, dashing to the door. She was on autopilot, not feeling a thing while the key perfectly fit into the lock and she opened the door, locking it as she closed it behind her. She was breathing heavily as she pulled the mask out of the bag and slipped it on her head. She looked around the inside of the building, it being near total darkness except for a few lights. Apparently the Ivies didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to break in, so the elevator apparently leading to a basement was clearly visible. Taking a deep breath and ignoring the banging from the door and the yells coming from Deadshot, she walked into the elevator after pressing the button to open the doors, making sure she had a can of the fear gas in both of her hands. She quickly pushed the down button, and the elevator doors closed.

She didn't know how far the stair went down, but she suspected it went down a few floors. Eventually however the elevator stopped and the doors opened to show Samantha that she was in a hallway. On each side were doors while at the end there was one large door. Samantha walked out of the elevator and, after putting her ear to the closest door to try and hear anything, opened it after being certain that no one was inside.

She immediately pulled her mask off and threw up on the floor in horror. In the small room, was a pile of bodies. She didn't know how many, but they had clearly been here for a long time due to the visible decay and the smell. There were faces torn off and body parts missing, and their ages varied from what looks like as young as ten to as old as sixty. The smell made her gag and throw up more, but despite this she took a few steps towards the bodies. Despite how horrifying it was, she needed to try and see if her father was among them. Despite the fact she now had more hatred and disgust of the Ivies than ever before, she was relieved and worried when she became sure her dad wasn't among the bodies. Relieved because it meant he was still alive. Worried because it meant the Ivies could be killing him right now.

She walked out of the room and put the mask back on, wondering at the back of her mind how Jonathan had worn this thing all those years. The gas mask covered by the actual mask was tight to slip her head into and it got hot and sticky quickly while wearing it. She looked around the hallway, about to try the door opposite to the room she had just been in, when she heard shouting from the big door at the end of the hallway. Slowly, her heart beating quickly, she walked up to the door before carefully pushed it open slightly and peeking inside through the crack.

Inside she could see a large number of Ivies in a large room, probably around thirty to forty. There was a large stage at the end of the room, and there stood a woman wearing a green cloak. Samantha was horrified when she saw, despite how many Ivies were blocking her view, a pile of dead bodies on the stage next to the woman. Sudenly the woman threw her hands in the air and the chattering Ivies all grew quiet.

"My sisters!" the woman yelled. "You have seen many men die on this stage, but none as special as this one. Because tonight, we have found the offspring of one of the great Ivy's enemies. The son of the man with two faces!"

Samantha froze when she heard that and nearly screamed with joy and horror when she saw her father be dragged onto the stage by two Ivies with tattoos over their faces, letting go of him so he could collapse to the floor with a loud bang. Samantha put the bag on the ground beside her as she crouched down, being careful to make as little sound as possible. Thankfully the Ivies were completely focused on her father, booing loudly which meant no one noticed her rummaging through the bag.

"Please..." Samantha heard Bill say despite the noise during the brief moments the Ivies were a bit more quiet. "Don't...do this.."

"I wish I could bring the real Two-Face here tonight, but according to Bill here Harvey Dent passed away some time ago." the green hooded lady said, ignoring Bill. "Guess we'll just have to make do with him."

The crowd cheered. Meanwhile Bill, his face clearly bruised and bleeding, tried to get up but one of the Ivies put her foot on his back and pushed him down.

"And since this is such a special guest, I thought that for his death we'll make it special." the woman said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out of a coin. "Now I'll admit it's not like his old man's coin, but I think it will do. Now how about heads, we make his death long and painful, but return his body by morning. Tails, it's quick and painless, but we cut up his body and spread it across the city to show everyone why you don't mess with the Ivies. Is that alright with everyone?"

The crowd cheered again, while Samantha began to try and hurry up. She hadn't packed that carefully and now she was struggling to find the smoke bombs that she believed would release a cloud of the fear toxin. She heard the crowd grow silent as the woman flipped the coin, and Samantha stopped what she was doing when she heard a loud bang that she knew was a gunshot. Slowly, she looked away form the bag and into the room. and on the stage, was the woman in green pointing a gun at her father. Who wasn't moving or making a sound.

What happened next, Samantha couldn't really describe. It was like she was on autopilot, unable to process what had just happened. All that sh eknew was that she found the smoke bombs, pulled the pins and threw them into the room. They went off with a loud bang that shocked everyone, and for a few seconds everyone got out their weapons. Then half of the Ivies began to scream and crawl away from imaginary monsters, while the other half leaped at the first one and began trying to kill them as smoke spread around them. Making sure her mask was on tight, Samantha walked into the room with the bag strap around her shoulder. Seeing a lead pipe on the floor, Samantha picked it up, which was convenient as when an Ivy came rushing towards her Samantha was able to hit the psychotic woman in the face with it.

Her attention was completely focused on the woman in the green cloak, who was on the ground screaming in terror, scratching at her arms. The two Ivies that had been with her hand run into the crowd to try and kill whatever it was they were seeing. Samantha walked up the steps to the stage, and stopped for a brief second when she saw her dad on the floor, blood starting to form around his head. Then anger filled her entire body, and she rushed towards the woman and struck her with the pipe. The scream the woman let out was music to Samantha's ears, so she hit her again to hear her scream in pain.

"Please, go away!" the woman screamed, her hood falling off to reveal a blond haired woman with eyes wide with terror. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you killed all these people. Ruined so many lives." Samantha told her.

"Because we could! I mean maybe one in ten of the people heard actually believe all the religious nonsense or had an actual reason, but the rest of us just wanted backup when we did what we did. Please don't kill me." the woman begged, before screaming for ait as she saw something caused by the toxin. "Fucking Christ, what sort of monster are you!?"

"I'm Scarecrow." Samantha told her, noting that her voice did sound a bit different through the mask, deeper and like something out of a horror movie. She hit the woman again, making small droplets of blood splatter out from her nose. Samantha watched the woman cry in pain as she reached downa dn grabbed the gun she had dropped. It was cold and heavy in her hand, but she didn't really notice. Just like she hadn't notice how many Ivies had been killed and how many were still screaming in terror form the toxin. All she did was focus on the woman, knowing that she had no dead how long the toxin would last, and aimed the gun at her.

"Samantha stop!" a voice screamed at her. Surprised, Samantha looked behind to see Jonathan standing there, not wearing a mask. Samantha heard banging and briefly looked away from Crane to see Deadshot killing the remaining Ivies, before focusing her attention back on Crane.

"Why aren't you scared?" Samantha asked in confusion.

"This is one of the weakest strains of the toxin, and after years of exposure to stronger stuff I have a big resistance to it." Crane told her, taking a few steps forward. "Samantha, I want you to hand me the gun."

"No! She killed my dad, she needs to die!" Samantha yelled in anger, pointing at the crying woman on the floor. "Look, his body is right there."

"I know Samantha." Crane told her gently, glancing down at Bill before returning his attention to Samantha. "But he wouldn't want you to do this. He wouldn't want you to kill someone for him. Trust me, I know what you are feeling and I know that you don't want to do this."

"How would you know what he would want? How do you know how I'm feeling?" she screamed at him. "What are you even doing here? You didn't care enough to do anything to save him!"

"I know he wouldn't want you to do this because I've known him since he was just eight years old. I was there for him when Harvey died and I was there for him when Abbey died giving birth to you." Crane told her as gently as he could, taking a few more hesitant steps towards her. "And I know you don't want to do this because I was in the same situation when your grandfather died."

"What are you talking about?"

Jonathan was silent for a moment, his face serious. Samantha thought he wasn't going to speak again until he did, though he was obviously reluctant to do so. "You know I never actually liked Harvey in the beginning. Thought he was a bit arrogant and stuck up, always annoying me with that coin thing, and I especially didn't like him when he had one of his mood swings and started referring to himself as two different people. In all honestly, if things had been different I might have ended up killing him myself."

"But when you spend a lot of your time locked in an Asylum with the guy you don't like and a clown you hate, you tend to bury the hatchet quickly. And when you see a lot of the people you did like die or move on, human instinct will often lead you to become friends with someone you couldn't have imagined yourself being friends with." Jonathan explained. "Eventually, me and Harvey became the closest of friends and helped each other get better, helped each other to want to put all the crazy costumes and names behind us. Which is why when he was killed by Cobblepot, I ended up doing exactly what you are doing. I didn't care that it was just business to Cobblepot. I didn't care that by killing the mayor, the man who was for better or for worse moving Gotham forward in everyway possible, could make things worse than it was before Batman showed up. I just hunted him down and killed him."

"But, isn't he a criminal?" Samantha asked, confused by what he was saying. "The Penguin or something? In school they told us about him and all the illegal stuff they found after his death."

"Yeah he was. Had a pretty nice club as well." Jonathan told her. "Thing is, he was basically the Lex Luthor of Gotham city. Once he had what he wanted, which was power over the city, he no longer cared about getting even with anyone. Just ensuring that he kept power. So why wouldn't he help fund charities and schools and hospitals? Why wouldn't he eliminate the competition by providing the police with so much support? Why wouldn't he make things better?"

"Batman had been dead for a few weeks before that. The general public has no idea, but most of us suspect it was one of those two big immortal guys who did it. Anyway, when I killed Cobblepot there was no one there to stop someone completely corrupt and weak willed form taking his place, someone who would easily have become a puppet to someone who would make things worse." Crane explained. "Someone who would have willingly allowed the Ivies to exist and gain power, instead of doing everything they could to stop them. Do you get it? This woman may have pulled the trigger, but I killed Bill by allowing the Ivies to exist."

"Why are you telling me this?" Samantha asked.

"Tell me I'm wrong when I say that you enjoy this." Crane asked, and when Samantha didn't respond he sighed. "That feeling is a big reason why it took me so long to let go of being Scarecrow. And honestly, when I finally had Cobblepot where I wanted him, avenging Harvey was the last thing on my mind. I just cared about the feeling I got as I saw him scream and beg for his life."

"I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that I failed. I failed everyone who thought I could change. I failed Harvey, who begged me not to kill Cobblepot while he was dying. I failed myself, because I resigned myself to the fact that Scarecrow was who I was. If I hadn't promised to take care of Bill, I would have just put the mask on and killed hundreds of people. And I'm asking you, begging you, to not make my mistake."

"She's just an Ivy!" Samantha protested. "It's not like someone worse will replace her."

"Probably not. But I know you are enjoying this, and if you kill her you will end up exactly like so many other people I knew who failed to make the right choice, like I did." Crane told her, and she could hear the honest and emotion in his voice. "I mean you're smart, so you could probably figure out how to make the toxin. You are strong, so you could easily fight people if needed to. You could easily end up just like me. Please, don't end up like me. Be better than me. Be like your dad, a guy who stayed a good person despite the trauma he went through growing up. Please, just give me the gun."

Samantha looked at the crying woman, at her dad, at the gun in her hand, before focusing on Crane. She could see how much he wanted her to give him the gun by his eyes allowed. And despite how much she didn't want to, despite how much it made her hate herself, she handed him the gun. She saw the relief on Crane's face, as he threw the gun away and hugged her. Samantha felt tears form at her eyes and she let out a small sob which alerted Crane to her emotional state. He put an arm around her and led her down the stage.

"Come on, we're going home." he told Samantha, before looking at Deadshot who was finishing off the remaining Ivies. "Clean this up Ms Lawton, and we're even."

Deadshot nodded and went pass the two of them up to the stage. Samantha didn't look back and let Crane lead her away from the Ivies. She didn't look at any of the bodies, and instead focused on Crane.

"What happens now?" she asked him, as he pulled the mask off her when they were a safe distance from the toxin, some tears falling down her face.

"Honestly, I don't know. Really it's up to you. But I'll be there to help you, no matter what." he told her and hugged her closer.

 **Tell me what you think and if there are any spelling mistakes or sentences that don't make sense. I know it's probably not the ending most would expect, but I was originally going to end it with Samantha becoming a villain when I came up with this idea. But I thought it would be too depressing and instead went with this. I hope this was enjoyable to read. By the way, bojo isn't a mistake. It's just that I realised that I haven't included future slang in the story yet so I used bojo, which is from Back to the Future part II. Also, the Deadshot in this is Zoe Lawton and the Rose she mentioned is Rose Wilson.**


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